Tuesday, April 14, 2009

proper running form and tips and exercises


Running form is a critical part of running performance and injury prevention. Correct running form and running mechanics will make your a more efficient runner and will improve your running efficiency. You will run easier, faster and farther with proper running form. Poor running form will slow you down, decrease your efficiency and can even be the cause of many running injuries. Here you will find running form tips, advice, articles and information to help you improve your running form, increase your running performance, avoid injuries and become a more economical runner.

 -Quick Feet

 Begin by performing a slow jog. Using a short stride and bouncing on your toes, raise your knees as high as possible on each stride. Concentrate on decreasing the time of contact between your foot and the ground. As soon as your foot hits the ground, quickly spring if off of the ground and into the high knee position. There will be little forward distance covered, but keep moving forward. Repeat for 30 to 50 meters. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

 

 -High Knees

Begin by performing a slow jog. Using a short stride and bouncing on your toes, raise your knees as high as possible on each stride. Concentrate on raising your knees as high as possible. There should be little forward distance covered, but keep moving forward. Repeat for 30 to 50 meters. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions  

-Straight legs

Run forward keeping the legs straight. Forward speed is not important. Focus on quickly bringing the legs back under the body. Arms are held in normal running position.

-Kick Outs 

Similar to the straight legs drill, except the knee is brought up and the lower leg is kicked out and then the whole leg is brought quickly under the body.

-Bounding

  Running tall, extend the push off phase and bound. I use a mental image of a deer for this one. Relax shoulders and be sure to use arms as part of the drive phase.

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